As concern over how to curb monkeypox continues globally, the first thousands of vaccines against the disease have arrived in Victoria.
Unlike the COVID-19 shots, uptake of the monkeypox vaccine is not being widely encouraged, but rather targeted at particular groups who are at high risk of contracting the virus.
To date, there have been 22 cases of monkeypox in Victoria, with seven of these remaining active.
Most have been returned travelers, but one case was the result of local transmission.
Here’s what we know about what the release will look like.
What do we know about the vaccine?
Victoria has been allocated 3,500 doses of the third-generation JYNNEOS smallpox vaccine, which is one of two smallpox vaccines approved for use in Australia.
Due to the high demand for the vaccine worldwide, the supply is quite limited.
A full vaccination requires two doses, given at least 28 days apart by injection, preferably in the upper arm.
Advice from Australia’s federal health department suggests that although the vaccine is most effective when given before infection, vaccination within 14 days of exposure to monkeypox is expected reduce the severity of the disease.
Getting the vaccine within four days of exposure provides the best chance of preventing monkeypox altogether.
A similar rollout of the vaccine has begun in New South Wales this week, with the state allocated 5,500 doses.
Although the Commonwealth organizes vaccines, it is up to individual states and territories to decide how to allocate doses based on local risk factors.
Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the arrival of the Commonwealth’s first tranche of vaccines was welcome and more were expected to be delivered by the end of the year.
Who is eligible?
Monkey pox can be contracted by anyone who has prolonged contact with another person with the virus, but so far the outbreak has been disproportionately affecting men who have sex with men.
What are the symptoms?
Initial symptoms of monkeypox may include:
- fever
- swollen lymph nodes
- headache
- body pains
Symptoms are usually followed by a characteristic rash that can appear on the face, genitals, inside the mouth, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet.
The disease spreads between people through skin-to-skin contact, contact with infected surfaces or items, and respiratory droplets.
While health authorities wait for more supplies, strict eligibility criteria for the vaccine have been decided.
Thomas said the vaccines will be “distributed to the people who need them the most as soon as possible.”
This means that those eligible at this stage are high-risk close contacts of existing monkeypox cases, laboratory workers analyzing samples from monkeypox cases, sexually active HIV-positive or HIV-negative gay or bisexual men, as well as sex workers with high-risk clients.
Men who have sex with men, including cis and transgender men who meet additional criteria set by the health department, will also be eligible.
How can eligible people access it?
The vaccine will be rolled out at a handful of health clinics in Melbourne, and Victoria’s health department’s advice to those eligible in regional areas is that the vaccine may be available through a local public health unit.
Clinics set to be part of the rollout are Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Thorne Harbor Health, Northside Clinic, Collins Street Medical Center and Prahran Market Clinic.
Health authorities will arrange vaccination for those people who are eligible to be vaccinated because of their exposure to a confirmed case of smallpox.
What’s the latest on the spread of monkey pox?
In late July, Australia’s chief medical officer called the growing presence of monkeypox in the country a “communicable disease incident of national significance”.
The move followed the World Health Organization’s declaration that the spread of the virus in more than 70 countries represented a global “public health emergency”.
The disease has been associated with countries in West and Central Africa since it was first detected, but since May it has spread worldwide.
More than 26,000 cases have been reported worldwide, most in the US and Europe.